Congressman Steve King says there’s something wrong with the priorities of people who are against watching dogfighting

Last week, Iowa Congressman Steve King stood up for the rights of Americans who want to watch (and encourage others to watch) dog fights.

During a tele-townhall event last week, King complained about an amendment to the farm bill that prohibits attendance at organized animal fights and imposes additional penalties for bringing a child to these bloody and horrific displays. Staging fights, possessing and/or training animals or moving animals for fighting purposes is already a federal crime. This amendment to the US Farm Bill would extend that to anyone spectating and wagering on animal fighting.

Congressman King went as far to say in his live town hall video broadcast [LiveStream page] that “it’s a federal crime to watch animals fight or to induce someone else to watch an animal fight but it’s not a federal crime to induce somebody to watch people fighting, there’s something wrong with the priorities of people that think like that.”

In a statement released by Wayne Pacelle,President and CEO of The HSUS: ”Spectators are participants and accomplices who enable the crime of animal fighting, make the enterprise profitable through admission fees and wagering, and help conceal and protect the handlers and organizers; Federal investigators who raid large-scale animal fighting operations may soon be able to prosecute the entire cast of characters who sustain dogfighting and cockfighting.”

It is illegal in 49 states to be a knowing spectator at an animal fight. A majority—29 states—impose felony-level penalties on spectators. This legislation imposes federal misdemeanor penalties for knowing attendance and felony penalties for knowingly causing a minor to attend.

The amendment was introduced by Senator David Vitter-La., and strongly backed by Sens. Richard Blumenthal, Conn., Maria Cantwell, Wash., Mark Kirk,-Ill., Scott Brown, -Mass., and Agriculture Committee Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow, -Mich.
The amendment passed in the Senate on an 88 to 11 vote (With only 1 not voting).

Apparently, this isn’t Congressman King’s first attempt at stopping animal rights in his five terms in Congress. According to a release from the Humane Society of the United States:

King has led the fight in Congress to block legislation to crack down on the barbaric practices of dogfighting and cockfighting. During consideration of the 2012 Farm bill, King led an unsuccessful effort to defeat a McGovern amendment to make it a crime for an adult to attend or to bring a child to a dogfight or cockfight.

A three-year study by the Chicago Police Department found that 70 percent of animal offenders had also been arrested for other felonies, including domestic and aggravated battery, illegal drug trafficking, and sex crimes. That pattern of behavior undoubtedly encouraged the Fraternal Order of Police, the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association, the International Association of Chiefs of Police, and nearly 200 law enforcement agencies from across the country to support the current effort in Congress to quash illegal dogfighting and cockfighting.

Every other federal lawmaker in Iowa – including Republicans Charles Grassley and Tom Latham –supported this policy of forbidding adults from bringing children to these spectacles of violence. South Dakota Senator John Thune also voted in favor of barring adults from taking kids to animal fighting spectacles.

King also stood alone in Iowa’s delegation in opposing a previous upgrade of the federal law against animal fighting. In 2007, he was one of a just a small group of lawmakers to oppose H.R. 137, a bill to make it a federal felony to transport animals or cockfighting implements across state lines.

Tell Congressman King that PEOPLE make their own decisions to fight OTHER PEOPLE-and more often than not are NOT subject to the cruel, unusual, and inhumane slaughter upon loss of a match. Dogs, Roosters and other animals are forced by people into barbaric situations and suffer terrible treatment before, during and after these terrible happenings. Click here to directly contact Steve King and tell him that watching people fighting and watching a dogfight is NOT the same!

what kind of MORON is this s**t — you CANNOT compare dog fighting and boxing / wrestlers — the boxers / wrestlers
chose to go in the ring, the dogs are thrown UNWILLINGLY into the pit !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! come on even most MORONS can tell the deference. Boxers also go to the hospital if injured in a fight the dogs are burned electrocuted and drowned hacked with an ax or whatever other device the idiots have at hand!!!!then left for dead !!!!!!There is a BIG deference to people fighting and dog fighting!!! ( I am not for boxing either but at least they make the choice ) NOT some uneducated MORON !!!! just to put $$$$ in their pocket.. because they are to lazy to get a job and want to profit from a dogs pain…… Now do you see the deference?????

http://www.facebook.com/cynthy.link Cynthy Link

what kind of MORON is this s**t — you CANNOT compare dog fighting and boxing / wrestlers — the boxers / wrestlers
chose to go in the ring, the dogs are thrown UNWILLINGLY into the pit !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! come on even most MORONS can tell the deference. Boxers also go to the hospital if injured in a fight the dogs are burned electrocuted and drowned hacked with an ax or whatever other device the idiots have at hand!!!!then left for dead !!!!!!There is a BIG deference to people fighting and dog fighting!!! ( I am not for boxing either but at least they make the choice ) NOT some uneducated MORON !!!! just to put $$$$ in their pocket.. because they are to lazy to get a job and want to profit from a dogs pain…… Now do you see the deference?????

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Having been in the animal business since childhood, then getting engaged to a tech fanatic later in life, it was inevitable that a site like this would come to fruition. I love animals of all shapes and sizes, particularly dogs. We have two dogs of our own at the moment, a Spaniel Mix named Padfoot and a Great Dane named Nymphadora Tonks. For more info, check out the About page.